I first conceived of Simply Nick in 1999 when my eleven-year-old brother shouted out the car window to a passing driver, "Pardon me, do you have any makeup on?" He meant to say, "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" the famous tagline for Kraft Foods' dijon mustard, Grey Poupon. I immediately set to work on a character sketch of my younger brother so I could immortalize his hilarious faux pau.

I eventually developed an entire line of comics out of that single Grey Poupon incident. I drew most of my earliest strips in class when my teachers weren't looking. All of the first comics were done on 3"x5" index cards. Initially, the only characters to be introduced in the strip were children. Then, in 2003, I introduced the characters of Mom and Dad. These were the first and (to date) only adults to be drawn into the strip.

The principal cast of Simply Nick characters includes Nick, Joey, Danny, Mom and Dad. Also prevalent in the cartoon are best friends Penny and Junji.

Simply Nick has appeared in two editions of Woodland High School's newspaper, The Orange Peal. It has also been the inspiration for Ponticello family Christmas cards for many years.